


Fathers Be Good to Your Daughters

by mcgarrygirl78



Series: California Dreaming [8]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M, Family, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-15
Updated: 2013-06-15
Packaged: 2017-12-15 00:49:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/843371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She wasn’t just doing this because she adored Jason Gideon, which she did.  She was doing it for the girls.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fathers Be Good to Your Daughters

“What do you have so far?” Paloma asked. She took a small bite of her turkey burger with guacamole.

That was one of the many things Gideon noticed about her. Paloma loved to eat but she always took small bites. She savored food and he liked to watch her eat it. Jason didn't even care if that was weird, which it probably was.

“I have nothing.” He replied shrugging.

“You have nothing?”

“I really have nothing.”

“Jason, the party is in five weeks.” She said. “You’ve got to have more than nothing.”

“We’re going to have about 20 people, I know that. I told the girls they could invite fourteen kids and they invited 12. Plus there’s you and I, their foster siblings, and two other parents coming. I know I'm serving hotdogs and hamburgers. There will be water, juice, and Sunny Delight; no soda. And I might get a slip and slide for the kids who don’t want to swim. Though I had the twins make sure that everyone knew how to swim before I let them get in the pool.”

“Its California, kids are born knowing how to swim here. That’s more than nothing by the way.”

“OK fine,” he held up his hands. “It’s a little something. But there are still more things I need. I don’t know if you could tell but I am not at all learned in the ways of teenage girl birthday parties.”

“Luckily you have a friend who is.” Paloma said.

“Who?”

“Oh ha-ha.” She smiled. “I'm going to help. Is there anything the girls really want?”

He watched her pull a small notebook from her tote bag. Then she dug around looking for a pen. When she finally found it, Paloma opened the pad and wrote something. Jason couldn’t read her writing upside down. It wasn’t a doctor’s scribble but it wasn’t quite neat either.

“They want this DJ who cost $300 for three hours.” He said. “I think that’s a little ridiculous but one of the other kids at school had him at her party and it was so rad. Those are their words not mine.”

“I figured as much. I know a guy who can do it for half that and then you get a third off for the family discount. What kind of music do they like?”

“A little bit of everything. Tameka loves hip-hop and the pop stuff like Lady Gaga and Britney Spears. Tashima loves modern rock like The Cure and Oasis but she’s also obsessed with Queen. She wants this import boxed set for her birthday that costs a lot.”

“OK, a little bit of everything…check. What else?”

“They want a photographer so they can commemorate the entire event. I've called around and everyone wants too much money but I've gotten one of the professors in the philosophy department to ask his wife to do it. She does photography as a serious hobby so she’s good. She was fine with $100 and some food. I have no idea what to do for decorations. 13 is a little old for pin the tail on the donkey and things like that.”

“Well everyone loves piñatas.” Paloma said. She stopped writing for a moment and ate her lunch. “We can fill it with cool things like colorful shoestrings, buttons, candy, and anything else we find age appropriate at Party City. Do you know what kind of cake you're buying?”

“A punk rock cake; they said put Green Day on it.” Jason replied. “It’s one of the few things I've gotten them to agree on. Tashima and Tameka are close but they are fraternal twins. The things they love and don’t love aren’t the same. So I want to make this party a little bit of both of them while also being fun for their friends.”

“I understand. We had so many parties as kids and probably went to even more. We’re going to do this great and on a budget. It will to be awesome.”

“You're excited.” Jason smiled.

“I love planning things. And I really love parties. Plus this is important to the girls and I know it’s important to you. Let’s make it as good as it gets.”

“I don’t know how to thank you.”

“Don’t be silly.” Paloma said. “That’s what friends are for.”

“Friends?”

“Um…that’s what female acquaintances are for?”

Jason shook his head.

“That’s what a woman who won't be put in a box by a potential boyfriend with silly titles is for.”

“I like that.” He pointed at her.

“I thought you might.”

“Really though, you don’t have to do this and you're doing it anyway. I appreciate it.”

“I'm sure you’ll find some way to show your gratitude.”

Paloma smiled when Jason looked at her. Then she went back to scribbling in her notepad. She wasn’t just doing this because she adored Jason Gideon, which she did. She was doing it for the girls. They had been in foster care since they were eight years old and had been with Jason since before they turned 11. Life hadn’t been an easy road for them. 

They wanted a birthday party. For some kids this was just a simple request; something they took for granted. For Tashima and Tameka it was everything. Paloma wanted to make sure they felt the love and also just had an amazing time. Everyone should have good memories to look back on in their lives.

“What about presents?” she asked.

“Tameka wants an iPod Touch.” He replied. “She can do everything on it from check email to watch music videos, to take pictures. It costs an arm and a leg but all of their products do. I told them one gift apiece so they went for the big ticket items. 

“Tashima is trying to choose between the Queen boxed set and a pair of Doc Martens. I think Jake told her about a place where she can get some great secondhand Docs or some imitations. She said she would let me know in a week about her decision since we’d have to go together to purchase the Docs. They want just the three of us to have dinner together the night before the party since that’s their actual birthday.”

“Where are you guys going to go?”

“We’re going to The Pit, it’s a burger and barbecue place in town. The girls love that they have burgers the size of their heads. Tameka said they wanted to talk to me about something important on their big day. I admit that I'm curious and maybe a little worried.”

“Why worried?” Paloma asked.

“I don't know.” Jason shrugged. “They’re growing up, Paloma. Soon we’ll have to talk about women things and other insanity that a single dad gets migraines from. I'm ready, I think, and even if I'm not it’s coming anyway. But this isn’t me giving them the uncomfortable birds and bees thing, this is them wanting to talk to me. I'm worried.”

“I say don’t be.”

“Do you know something that I don’t?”

“No.” she shook her head. “But I do know what it’s like to be thirteen and want to have that father-daughter talk. Your relationship is about to change and maybe they want to address it. I think it’s very mature of them both.”

“Yeah.”

He would do his best to think only good thoughts. That wasn’t Gideon’s default position but maybe it was time to change things. It wasn’t easy at his age but it was worth trying. There were five kids under his care now and kids changed every day. They changed every hour if you didn’t pay enough attention. 

Jake was a full-blown teenager now; he was in high school. Sometimes Jason had to look really close to see the rough and tumble, scared kid that showed up at his house at one in the morning for emergency placement. He was a totally different person now. He wouldn’t even be a kid for too much longer.

“Do you have plans for Independence Day next week?” he thought changing the subject was a good plan. Jason and Paloma didn’t get to spend tons of time together. Some of it should be spent talking about them.

“I'm not sure. My parents are having a barbecue and of course they invited me. I have some friends in Berkeley who are doing it up huge, even having their own fireworks but I don’t know if holiday traffic is my cup of tea. My ex-sister-in-law invited me to her pool party, which was very kind but slightly awkward. And there's a part of me that wants to make a little something on my hibachi grill, curl up under the air conditioner, and have a Miss Marple marathon. So I have a few options.”

“We’re having a little barbecue. The kids will probably run around, eating and playing themselves into oblivion. The street will block traffic so people can walk around and chat with their neighbors. It’ll be nice.”

“You know you still haven’t fed me yet, Gideon.” Paloma said.

“I plan to impress you with more than hot dogs.”

“I like hot dogs. I'm not picky.”

“I like that about you.” He said.

“My love of hot dogs attracts a lot of men.”

“I meant you not being picky.” Jason smiled.

“That mostly only applies to food and bad reality shows. About some other things I'm picky as hell.”

“I like that about you too.”

“Do you want to go to Party City after lunch?” Paloma asked.

Jason shook his head and it made her smile. She knew the look that he was giving her and she approved. They wouldn’t need to go to a hotel this time…her place was just fine. Paloma would put on a little music and see where the afternoon took them. 

There would be Method Man, some air conditioner, and they'd christen the new couch. She couldn’t wait to be alone with him…couldn’t wait to be naked. They were doing the ‘titles are weird let’s not label each other’ thing and that was fine. That didn’t mean that Paloma didn’t enjoy the new physical aspects of their relationship. 

Jason seemed to like it as well. She didn’t quite know how to define what they had and what it might turn into. Everything wasn’t meant to be planned to death. Paloma would do that with the girls’ birthday party and let the relationship go with the flow.

***


End file.
